... but didn’t have many keepers. It is home to many rare seabirds and a puffin colony, all protected by the Canadian Wildlife Service. Machias Seal Island Lighthouse is a tapered octagonal reinforced concrete tower measuring 19.8 metres (65 feet) tall. Although the lighthouse was electrified in 1966, and automated in 1987, a caretaker and lighthouse keeper remained on site until 2007, when the lighthouse keeper's cottages were renovated into tourist accommodations. Though Machias Seal Island Lighthouse has been automated for several years the Department of Foreign Affairs covers the Coast Guard’s costs of maintaining keepers on the island “for sovereignty purposes.” The keepers work on the island on a rotational basis, a new pair being flown in every twenty-eight days. The Government of Canada has identified about 500 traditional lighthouses that are not in use. A lighthouse is located there and in the non-nesting season the only occupants on the island are the two lighthouse keepers. The southernmost point in New Brunswick, the rocky 6-ha (15-acre) Machias Seal Island is home to the last of the manned lighthouses in Canada. Captain Andrew Patterson P. O. This was originally one of the twin lighthouses on the island; it was replaced in 1877 by a tower that was the front light of a range. After Matinicus Rock's lighthouse keepers began protecting the puffins from hunters, the puffins began to come back and there are now about 150 pairs that nest there. One exception is Machias Seal Island in the Gulf of Maine, where lightkeepers continue to staff the lighthouse for sovereignty reasons. Unique puffin bird trips offered to specifically land on Machias Seal Island and view the puffins up close, with the Canadian Machias Seal Island Lighthouse there, will also pass by Little River Lighthouse. One bird that I didn’t photograph much on the island, but I saw very well from the boat, was the Common Murre. Maybe it’s because there’s land involved, even if it’s mostly uninhabited but for pairs of unnecessary Canadian lighthouse keepers and flocks of Atlantic puffins. The lighthouse was removed in 1915 when the present Machias Seal Island Light was built. This page is hosted on The Cranford Publications Website. Finding Machias Seal Island on a map requires a fair bit of squinting. The last staffed lighthouse in Australia was the Sugarloaf Point Light, otherwise known as Seal Rocks Lighthouse. Fiddler Paul Cranford was a Lighthouse Keepers on Machias Seal from 1991-2009. Puffin trips heading to Machias Seal Island pass by Little River Lighthouse. Machias Seal Island West (Range Front) (1832-1915). Of course, after my time in the blinds, I had a pretty high standard for which images to keep!